A report released Friday on Canadian involvement in right-wing extremism online should serve as a “wake-up call” about the widespread nature of the movement and highlights a growing shift toward the use of less regulated platforms, says an expert on the phenomenon.
The research, led by the U.K.-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) think-tank, identified more than 6,600 online channels — pages, accounts or groups — where Canadians were involved in spreading white supremacist, mysogynistic or other radical views.
On some forums, Canadians were found to be “highly active,” even more, on average, than users in the U.S. and Britain.
On one particular message board called “politically incorrect” on the fringe site 4Chan, researchers found Canadian users created 1,636,558 posts, representing 5.71 per cent of posts from all countries.
The study suggests when the numbers were averaged out using each country’s “estimated internet-using population,” Canada was shown to be producing more content than anywhere else.
Barbara Perry, director of Ontario Tech University’s Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, called the Canadian tally “really disconcerting.”
“For us to be up there with the heavy hitters … it’s a wake-up call,” she said.
One woman was killed and two other people were injured in an attack at a massage parlour in Toronto on Feb. 24. Police say they have evidence linking the attack to incel ideology. (Michael Cole/CBC)
The authors of the 47-page study, which was partly funded by Public Safety Canada, say it’s one of the most comprehensive analyses of its kind. And while the paper offers only a snapshot captured before 2020, observers of far-right extremism suspect this year will only prove worse.
“Globally, in recent years, we have seen a surge in activity by right-wing extremists, in terms of violent mobilization, protests, but also the use of disinformation and co-ordinated hate online,” said Jacob Davey, ISD senior research manager and a study co-author. “Unfortunately, Canada hasn’t escaped that trend.”
The researchers describe right-wing extremism as being “characterized by a racially, ethnically and sexually defined nationalism … often framed in terms of white power,” centred on perceived threats by minority groups.
Not all the online chatter is illegal — much of it is covered by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — but the authors still consider it “problematic.”
Real-world violence
The broad right-wing extremist movement has been tied to such deadly rampages as the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting and the Toronto van attack in 2018. The driver later told a detective he was part of the so-called “incels,” a fringe subculture catering to men who consider themselves involuntarily celibate.
In May, Toronto police classified a woman’s killing at a local massage parlour as an act of incel terrorism — thought to be the first time the formal categorization is applied anywhere in Canada.
The study highlights the online roots of such groups, classifying incels as being part of the wider “manosphere” movement marked by “overt and extreme misogyny.”
Social media is “hugely important in the way these groups and individuals communicate, spread propaganda and target minority communities,” Davey said.
The manosphere movement accounted for a small portion of the extremist content identified by researchers, with ethnonationalists — described in the study as “often marked by implicit rather than explicit racism” — appearing more frequently across mainstreams platforms.
Community members staged a makeshift memorial near the site of the Toronto van attack in 2018. (Michael Cole/CBC)
Most posts found on Twitter
Researchers identified extremist channels across major social media sites, including Facebook and YouTube, but also examined forums with less regulation, such 4Chan and Gab. Both sites give users freer rein over their posts, drawing accusations of acting as safe havens for crude content.
The bulk of the channels — 6,352 out of about 6,600 — however, was found on Twitter.
A company policy bans “violent extremist” groups and says Twitter will permanently suspend accounts found to be in violation. A spokesperson for the firm declined to comment on the study.
CBC News has verified some of the accounts highlighted in the study remain online.
The paper identifies the “Three Percenters” as an Islamophobic armed militia group and “the epitome of this more militant arm of the movement.” The Alberta chapter’s Twitter and Facebook pages remained publicly available on Thursday, with fewer than 150 followers on Twitter and more than 4,500 on Facebook.
A Facebook search on Thursday for another group, the Canadian Defence League — identified as part of the anti-Muslim movement — returned a page with more than 1,800 “likes.” The group describes itself as “fighting back against high Muslim immigration levels.”
Members of La Meute are seen at a demonstration in Hemmingford, Que., in 2017. Researchers identified La Meute as ‘one of Quebec’s most notorious’ right-wing extremist groups. (Simon Nakonechny/CBC)
Mainstream social media firms have taken steps to delete pages belonging to extremist groups, removing their ability to spread their views in a practice known as “deplatforming.” Researchers observed a decrease in right-wing extremist activity on Facebook and YouTube across 2019.
A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement the company continues “to make progress in combating hate on our services. Individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are have no place on our services.”
A YouTube representative declined to comment.
Perry, the Ontario Tech University researcher, said “to some extent, deplatforming seems to be working … it’s taken the worst of the worst off of those readily accessible, readily available platforms.”
However, she said, it’s pushed some users to access fringe sites, such as 4Chan, Gab and the now-defunct Fascist Forge and Iron March. Both were classified by anti-discrimination campaigners as white supremacists sites.
Researchers found users in Canada to be especially active on certain 4Chan message boards. On a per capita basis, Canadians were more likely to post on the fringe forums than users from any other country, the study says, “demonstrating the extent of Canadian engagement with right-wing extremist causes online.”
Davey said it’s likely a sign Canadians are being swept up in a global surge of right-wing extremism, inspired by users from the U.S. or Europe. He said Canadian users appeared especially responsive to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes.
“It suggests they are responding to the world around them in a way that allows the proliferation of hatred.”
WATCH | How a Toronto firm is compiling a multilingual lexicon to fight online hate:
The quest to root out hate speech online has led tech companies to develop formulas to locate it and stop it from spreading. CBC’s Thomas Daigle looks at how the technology works and the challenges companies face. 2:44
Another surge expected
Researchers noted surges in Canadian right-wing extremist activity in March and October 2019, corresponding with the New Zealand mosque attack and the federal election.
The Christchurch massacre in particular acted as a “lightning rod,” Davey said, seen by Canadian radicals as “an opportunity to justify attacks against Muslims, to engage in really explicit, really egregious hate speech against minority communities.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the ongoing wave of anti-racist activism, is already proving to be another flashpoint.
Elisa Hategan, a Toronto-area-based former neo-Nazi who became an anti-extremism speaker and writer, said the dual crises have made some people lash out and hold others responsible, with a proliferation of vitriol and conspiracy theories online.
“The pandemic already rocked their comfort zones and pushed their boundaries, and now the social transformation taking place in the streets to protest racism and injustice is changing the privileges they took for granted,” she said in an email.
“So whatever the number of online hate channels last year, 2020 will be unprecedented.”
Friday’s study is meant as an interim report and part of a broader look into extremist action online and offline that is expected to be published next year.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State has asked a judge to decide key parts of its lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference without a trial, hoping for a quicker resolution and path to a possible exit from the league.
Florida State requested a partial summary judgment from Circuit Judge John Cooper in a 574-page document filed earlier this week in Leon County, the Tallahassee-based school’s home court.
Florida State sued the ACC in December, challenging the validity of a contract that binds member schools to the conference and each other through media rights and claiming the league’s exit fees and penalties for withdrawal are exorbitant and unfair.
In its original compliant, Florida State said it would cost the school more than half a billion dollars to break the grant of rights and leave the ACC.
“The recently-produced 2016 ESPN agreements expose that the ACC has no rights to FSU home games played after it leaves the conference,” Florida State said in the filing.
Florida State is asking a judge to rule on the exit fees and for a summary judgment on its breach of contract claim, which says the conference broke its bylaws when it sued the school without first getting a majority vote from the entire league membership.
The case is one of four active right now involving the ACC and one of its members.
The ACC has sued Florida State in North Carolina, claiming the school is breaching a contract that it has signed twice in the last decade simply by challenging it.
The judge in Florida has already denied the ACC’s motion to dismiss or pause that case because the conference filed first in North Carolina. The conference appealed the Florida decision in a hearing earlier this week.
Clemson is also suing the ACC in South Carolina, trying to find an affordable potential exit, and the conference has countersued that school in North Carolina, too.
The dispute is tied to the ACC’s long-term deal with ESPN, which runs through 2036, and leaves those schools lagging well behind competitors in the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten when it comes to conference-payout revenue.
Florida State has said the athletic department is in danger of falling behind by as much as $40 million annually by being in the ACC.
“Postponing the resolution of this question only compounds the expense and travesty,” the school said in the latest filing.
The ACC has implemented a bonus system called a success initiative that will reward schools for accomplishments on the field and court, but Florida State and Clemson are looking for more as two of the conference’s highest-profile brands and most successful football programs.
The ACC evenly distributes revenue from its broadcast deal, though new members California, Stanford and SMU receive a reduced and no distribution. That money is used to fund the pool for the success initiative.
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QUEBEC – Australian road cyclist Michael Matthews raced to victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec on Friday.
Matthews earned a record third career victory in Quebec City. He was previously tied with Slovakia’s Peter Sagan with two wins.
The Jayco-AlUla rider won the fastest edition of the Quebec race on the UCI World Tour calendar.
Matthews, who claimed titles in 2018 and 2019, edged out Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay and France’s Rudy Molard in a thrilling sprint.
Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, the heavy favourite, was unable to follow through with his attack launched just over two kilometres from the finish line. He finished in seventh place.
Pogacar will look to redeem himself at the Montreal cycling Grand Prix on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps have loaned midfielder Jay Herdman to Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League and rewarded two Whitecaps FC 2 players with MLS contracts.
Midfielder Jeevan Badwal signed as a homegrown player through 2027, with options for 2028 and 2029, while forward Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau signed an MLS contract through 2025, with club options for 2026 and 2027.
Both have been playing for the Whitecaps’ MLS Next Pro team along with the 20-year-old Herdman, the son of Toronto FC coach John Herdman.
The moves were made before Friday’s MLS and CPL roster freeze.
Born in New Zealand while his father was working for the New Zealand Football Federation, Jay Herdman was also part of the New Zealand soccer team at the Paris Olympics with three appearances including two starts. Herdman’s loan deal runs through the end of the CPL season.
“Jay is an important signing for us, who will provide another attacking option for the run-in,” Cavalry coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said in a statement. “He’s a player that we’ve been tracking since we played against Whitecaps in pre-season and he has very good quality, with terrific energy and the ability to contribute to goals.
“With the recent injury to Mael Henry, Jay’s positional profile and age helps us with on-field options and minutes that count towards the league’s required 2,000 U-21 domestic minutes during the regular season.”
Badwal, an 18-year-old from suburban Surrey, is the 26th academy player to sign an MLS contract with the Whitecaps.
“Having joined our academy in 2019, Jeevan continues to progress through our club and takes every challenge in stride,” Whitecaps FC sporting director Axel Schuster said in a statement. “He is comfortable on the ball, positionally sound, and does the simple things very well. We are excited for Jeevan to make the next step in his young career.”
Badwal has made 19 appearances with Whitecaps 2 this season, scoring two goals and adding three assists. A Canadian youth international, he started all three matches for Canada at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup
Badwal made his first-team debut off the bench in the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal against Pacific FC.
Chateau was originally selected 74th overall by the Whitecaps in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft after spending two years at St. John’s University.
The 22-year-old from Ottawa signed an MLS NEXT Pro contract with Whitecaps FC 2 in March. He leads Whitecaps FC 2 in goal-scoring this season with eight goals across 21 appearances (including eight starts).
“Nicolas leads MLS NEXT Pro in shots on target, has a very strong work rate and willpower. We are looking forward to seeing his growth as he builds on his young professional career,” said Schuster.
Chateau made his first-team debut as a second-half substitute at CF Montreal on July 6.
Herdman, who joined the Whitecaps academy as a 13-year-old, has made 19 appearances for Whitecaps FC 2 in 2024, scoring six goals and adding three assists. He made his MLS debut in April as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 victory at the Seattle Sounders.
Internationally, Herdman has represented New Zealand 29 times across the U-19, U-20, and U-23 sides. He was part of New Zealand’s squad at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting three matches at the tournament and scoring against Uzbekistan.
The Whitecaps host San Jose on Saturday while Cavalry entertains Atletico Ottawa on Sunday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024
